In Judaism, Politeness Isn’t a Secondary Virtue

A few years ago, amid much lamentation of the coarsening of civic discourse, a debate emerged in conservative circles about the relative importance of civility, with some arguing that it is a “secondary value.” At first glance, this seems an entirely reasonable claim: after all, politeness can’t possibly trump, say, the sanctity of human life. Yet the Jewish tradition suggests the exact opposite, with the ancient rabbinic adage that “derekh eretz [literally, “the way of the earth”] precedes the Torah.” Moshe Taragin explains that